James Dacombe, a 25-year-old British entrepreneur who left school at 16, has become one of Britain’s newest billionaires after his artificial intelligence chip company, Olix, secured fresh funding that valued the startup at $3.3 billion.
London-based Olix raised £232 million ($312 million) in its latest funding round, led by New York-based Fundomo. The investment tripled the company's valuation in just six months.
The funding attracted major investors, including British chip designer Arm, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, Hudson River Trading and Sovereign AI, the UK government's investment vehicle for promising artificial intelligence companies.
Dacombe reportedly owned more than one-third of Olix before the latest funding round. Based on the new valuation, his stake could be worth around £946 million ($1.27 billion), although his exact ownership following the investment has not been disclosed.
From School Dropout to Technology Entrepreneur
Raised in Harrogate in northern England, Dacombe began teaching himself computer programming at the age of 13. He developed websites and applications while still at school.
In 2017, he left Ashville College and later enrolled at St Aidan's and St John Fisher Sixth Form College. However, he left after just two days.
At 17, Dacombe founded CoMind, a medical technology company developing non-invasive devices designed to monitor blood flow and pressure in the brain.
The idea was inspired by relatives affected by strokes and dementia. Dacombe wanted to develop technology that could help doctors monitor patients without the need for invasive procedures.
CoMind is currently undergoing trials at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London ahead of a planned commercial launch.
His early achievements earned him a place in the Thiel Fellowship in 2022, a programme founded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel that supports young entrepreneurs who choose to build businesses rather than follow traditional university education.
Moving Into AI Chips
Dacombe later identified another major opportunity as demand for computing power surged alongside the rapid growth of artificial intelligence.
In 2024, he founded Olix, initially known as Flux, through his holding company Bletchley Industries.
Rather than developing AI applications, Olix focuses on the semiconductor technology needed to run them.
The company is developing specialised AI inference chips designed to run trained artificial intelligence models. Olix says its technology uses beams of light to transfer data instead of conventional copper connections, potentially improving performance while lowering costs.
The startup is positioning itself among a growing number of companies seeking to challenge Nvidia's dominance of the global AI chip industry.
Olix plans to complete the design of its DX-1 chip this year and begin increasing production in late 2027.
The company now employs more than 140 people across London, Bristol, Toronto, Austin and San Francisco.
Growing British AI Ambitions
Olix's rapid rise comes as the UK government seeks to strengthen Britain's position in the global artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries.
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan described Olix as the type of ambitious company the government wants to support through Sovereign AI.
The company has also strengthened its leadership team, appointing Stanford University computer scientist Nick McKeown to its board and former Wise executive Nick Briers as chief financial officer.
Despite its rapid growth, Olix remains tiny compared with Nvidia, whose chips have become central to the global AI boom.
Dacombe, however, believes specialised chips will play an increasingly important role in the future of AI computing.
Reflecting on starting businesses at such a young age, he said his lack of experience was actually an advantage because he was willing to experiment without being discouraged by previous failures.
Olix's latest funding has transformed Dacombe from a teenage school dropout into one of Britain's youngest technology billionaires, while placing his company among the country's most closely watched AI hardware startups.
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